[meteorite-list] Franconia Area Meteorites

From: Ruben Garcia <meteoritemall_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:12 2004
Message-ID: <20040409021645.72112.qmail_at_web20806.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi List,

John is right, as there are many new chondrite finds
in the Franconia area. I along with Mike Miller have
been hunting the area for many months, long before it
was common knowledge to the meteorite community. We
have found many meteorites, but just as important we
have found many different types of meteorites. Mike
and I have personally submitted for classification
over 10 different chondrite "types" ranging from an LL
to an H. And yes we have even found some Iron
meteorites! I feel confident in saying this because
the Arizona State University has been involved with us
in the classification process since the beginning and
therefore this is not merely our opinion but also the
opinion those at Arizona State University. As many of
you know the classification process can take some time
but please be patient as these classifications are
forthcoming.

During the entire time we have hunted this area we
have only come across a few grams of Bob Verishs'
Franconia meteorite ( fortunately for us we actually
had a slice of his Franconia to compare to our finds )
   Because of this we can only assume that there is
much less Franconia meteorite than there at first
seemed to be. That is not to say that there isn't a
lot of Franconia, indeed there may be, but maybe not
as much as some think. In fact, Bobs Franconia may
not even be the most abundant meteorite out there, as
we have many large pieces that are NOT like Bobs
Franconia.

I have heard it said once or twice that this may be
another gold basin, let me be the first to say I
highly doubt it. First of all it is obviously unique
because of the many types of meteorites being found.
Jim Kriegh ( one of the original gold basin strewn
field finders) upon hunting with us even dubbed it
the " Meteorite Graveyard" as he too found several
different types of meteorites. Also in my humble
opinion there is not all that much left. This is an
area where some of the more skilled hunters can and
have gone days without the slightest signal on their
detector. Many hunters will tell you there are
precious few meteorites still left.

To this day we continue to hunt, and even though we
don't find much anymore, it is still exiting. Think
about it, these are NEW ARIZONA METEORITES! Whether or
not they end up being classified as Franconia or any
one of the many other provisional names we have
chosen, they simply are a unique and rare treasure.


Sincerely,
Ruben Garcia and Mike Miller




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Received on Thu 08 Apr 2004 10:16:45 PM PDT